I imagine most everyone in 1989/1990/1991 thought that LC would be the last we ever saw of Indy. For those who were old enough in 1992, did anyone here remember how they heard about the YIJC? Did anyone watch them when they originally aired?

What was your reaction back then, first to hearing that we were getting a series about Indy's youthful pre-TOD adventures, and then, your first reaction when you watched the series?

Yes, I was thrilled about it coming out, and waited anxiously for the first episode. Loved the teasers leading up to it, and loved the intro.

My very first reaction was hating Old Indy passionately. Early in my 20s and fresh back from a year abroad in Cairo, I fancied myself an up and coming Indy. So I didn't like the fact that Old Indy seemed like a washed up, ignored old man spinning tales no one believed or wanted to hear. He seemed far too decrepit for the adventurer I was used to. Didn't seem a fitting end to his life story.

At the same time, the youngest Indy (Corey Carrier) went a little too far back for me. So I'm in my 20s and facing Indy either as an ancient old man or a little kid. But in time, I tended to like those episodes far better than the wartime ones with Sean Patrick Flannery. Outside of the war, some good episodes with him, though. I just thought all of the war episodes seemed about as dull as a boring lecture. For the most part they just didn't grab me. So by comparison I preferred Especially Young Indy (Corey), and particularly that first adventure in Egypt, since I'd just gotten home from Egypt myself.

Thanks to Lucas, the production standards were out of this world for the time.

And I was blown away the first time I saw the end credits and the b/w treatment of the show footage. Dust scratches and all. Thought that was incredible and waited for it at the end of each episode. Still think it's incredible.

Seeing them now, I really miss Old Indy. Luckily, I can catch Old Indy on StooTV...

And now that I'm in my 40s and still fancy myself adventurous....Old Indy, here I come...

I was about 12 years old when they started airing on ABC. My dad was a big fan of the trilogy which I had never seen and was really pumped about the show. My first exposure to the Indy character was through the Chronicles. I later loved the trilogy too, but Young Indy has a special place in my heart, as I remember tuning in each week with my dad and then having him lecture me about who all the famous people were at the end.
I remember many of the original airings vividly, especially the pilot, east Africa, Austria, Russia and Italy. I LOVED how sometimes it was the lead-in to the Wonder Years or Doogie Howser... man talk about some good tv. I rediscovered the Chronicles again in 1999 on VHS when I was about 19 and saw a few more that I hadn't seen before.
Can't wait to show them to my son when he's old enough!

Instead of writing everything all over again, I'll just transplant my post from there:

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I had been and Indy fan since 1981 so when news of the TV show came about, I was super excited and the premiere of, "Curse of the Jackal", did not disappoint at all. The next day, many people at work said that they watched and enjoyed it. This was pleasant to hear.

The 1st regular episode in London had almost no action so the shift in tone came as a surprise but I was still compelled and moved by the love story. The next one, with Teddy Roosevelt was right up my alley because I had developed a deep interest in colonial Africa just a few years earlier.

Then along came "Verdun". WOW! This one absolutely blew me away. Our main TV was hooked up to the stereo and we had 4 speakers around the room so the bullet sounds were flying all around! To top it all off, it had a preview for next week with the "German East Africa" episode. This kicked my excitement into OVERDRIVE!

About an hour before that episode started, I ran out to buy a blank videocasette and bumped into 2 friends who were going out to a bar. They wanted me to join them and I said, "N-o-o-o WAY!" There was nothing in the world that was going to stop me from watching & recording that one. It still remains one of my favourite episodes to this day.

I recorded every episode (all on the SP speed for maximum quality). Even when the show later moved to Saturday nights, my VCR was set to tape it while I was out partying. In the remaining space at the end of each tape, I would record bits of documentaries that pertained to those stories (just like how the DVDs are). For a uniform look, I had them all on Kodak tapes and kept them in 3 VHS library boxes. The boxes were brown and opened like books so they resembled Young Indy's diary. Still have my collection, too.

Thanks to the internet in 1996, I discovered that there were more episodes that weren't aired on ABC*, plus, 4 movies from the Family Channel. The news floored me! Luckily, I found 2 people on-line who were more than willing to do a trade and within a month, I had all the missing shows and the U.K. bookends for "Mystery of the Blues" with George Hall. Then I bought the VHS releases in 1999 and the DVDs in 2007-08.

*I recorded the "Florence" episode from a French TV channel in 1994 and was puzzled why I had never seen it before.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goodeknight

Seeing them now, I really miss Old Indy. Luckily, I can catch Old Indy on StooTV...

I've always been curious about this sort of thing. So, now when you think "Indy," do you consider YIJC as "main" Indy, and the rest building off of it? Or do you think of the trilogy, with YIJC and CS as the spinoffs?

I'm fascinated by the way my son views the Clone Wars cartoon series as his true "Star Wars." For him, the original trilogy is "more" or "other" Star Wars stuff.

Anyone following me on this? Primary exposure forming the basis for your definition of a character or series. Maybe I'm the only one who finds this interesting.

Anyone following me on this? Primary exposure forming the basis for your definition of a character or series. Maybe I'm the only one who finds this interesting.

You're certainly not alone, Goodeknight.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiffy

My image of Indy is coloured...by my first contact with him through the Raiders novel. From the beginning he was up to no good, and the moment he turns the tables on Barranca he became like that other anti-hero, the Man With No Name, whom Lucas noted as another character inspiration.

Campbell's writing was very reminiscent of Frank Chandler or Forrest Carter:

...

So I never thought of him as a hero in the modern sense, which made him all the more interesting.

Whenever Young Indy was on TV I had very little inclination to watch it. Catching snippets of it nothing felt reminiscent of the Indiana Jones trilogy.

It looked very much like a spin-off that had spun a long way off course.

While it was well made I still think it's a stand alone series that bears very little relation to the Harrison Ford adventures.

That the Clone Wars may be the true Star Wars for youngsters nowadays is akin to KOTCS coming top in the list of Indy films! ROTLA must look very antiquated now - the young guy never even rode a fridge through an atomic explosion, and yet people in the 'olden days' still thought he was heroic!

So, now when you think "Indy," do you consider YIJC as "main" Indy, and the rest building off of it? Or do you think of the trilogy, with YIJC and CS as the spinoffs?

Haha, no way. You say "Indy" and I'm thinking Harrison Ford, bull whips and Nazis. I loved the Young Indy character, but even when I watched the trilogy for the first time as a young teenager, I kind of went into it knowing that it was its own thing and sort of forced a mental divorce from the Indy of the Chronicles.

After multiple viewings of the trilogy and KCS over the years, its sometimes fun to look for those echoes of the SPF Young Indy (which you sometimes have to work hard to project). Say what you will about KCS, god blessum for the huge bone they threw to Young Indy fans!

I LOVED how sometimes it was the lead-in to the Wonder Years or Doogie Howser... man talk about some good tv.

Halfcup! If I stayed home to record Young Indy manually, each time it was over, I left the house! In my world, 1992/93 was ♫♪♪ "Party-all-the-time, Party-all-the-time, Party-all-the-ti-i-i-i-ime!"♫♫♪(Can't remember who sang that annoying but memorable dance song.)

I've heard that "Wonder Years" and "Doogie Howser" were good but have never seen them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Montana Smith

Whenever Young Indy was on TV I had very little inclination to watch it. Catching snippets of it nothing felt reminiscent of the Indiana Jones trilogy.

"Curse of the Jackal" as the premiere was very reminiscent of the films (not just for me but for everyone I knew who tuned in. It was the later episodes that turned them off).

Come to think of it, maybe Indy never even found the Ark (the evidence conveniently disappeared into a secure location); never escaped from an aeroplane by means of a rubber raft, never invoked a god, met Hitler or an ancient knight.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stoo

"Curse of the Jackal" as the premiere was very reminiscent of the films (not just for me but for everyone I knew who tuned in. It was the later episodes that turned them off).

The snippets I happened to catch were un-Indy-like! They were the later episodes with SPF as a sugary sweet un-Harrison-like character.

Having since watched all the series I know SPF had his tougher moments, but as a whole it's a little bit too much Forrest Gump. Learning Lucas' reason for making the YIJC explains why.

I personally see a lot of a future Indy in both the SPF and Corey Carrier versions. Corey Carrier plays Indy as the perfect misfit, trouble maker kid in search of adventure...I can't imagine a young Indy any different. SPF plays all sides of Indy--as a fully 3D character--but when he has to be, he is cynical, jaded, nasty and sarcastic, and we can see shades of the character that would develop over the next 15 years off-screen. The Bantam novels conveniently start with an SPF-like Indy in the early 1920s and end with the Indy we meet in TOD in 1934.

As such they couldn't be further apart, since education is the last thing you would associate with the trilogy.

Indiana Jones: [holding a gun to his commanding officer's head] You're being irrational. Emotions are clouding your judgement. You're endangering the men and putting our mission at risk.
Major Boucher: This is mutiny, Captain.
Indiana Jones: I disagree. Now drop your weapon. It's not a request.
Major Boucher: I'll have you before a firing squad. All of you.

Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma: That's the trick cyclist we passed on the way in. We thought he was an errant boy.
Indiana Jones: That's captain errant boy to you, second lieutenant. And unless you're dressed for a masquerade I fully expect to be saluted.

Indiana Jones: German spies don't concern me so much. All they do is shoot us. Its the Austrian secret police that worries me more.
Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma: And what would they do?
Indiana Jones: Poke our eyes out, strip our flesh, feed us our innerts, for starters.

Indiana Jones: Have you ever known me to lose a bet?
Stefan: Ankara. But you would never admit it.

Stefan: Henry, be careful.
Indiana Jones: Aren't I always?
Stefan: No. I would say... not always.
[Indy opens the door, only to catch their assistant eavesdropping]

There's more quotes but I can't find them on any site. Sarcastic quotes by Indy--for example about how he has no tolerance for the frivolous; In another episode, he sarcastically tells another guy how "at least you got some sleep." You'd have to see it in context, but put the deeper voice of Harrison Ford in some of these lines and it'd fit.

As for their reasons for existing, that doesn't matter to me. They're all just different parts of the story of the same character. It makes the character much more than just a 2D archetype.

Corey Carrier plays Indy as the perfect misfit, trouble maker kid in search of adventure...I can't imagine a young Indy any different.

I agree Corey Carrier is more Indyesque than SPF. Think about it. Corey at 7 (or whatever), was way tougher than SPF at 18-19-20. SPF did more whining, wincing, and crying than Corey Carrier ever did at less than half the age.

I agree Corey Carrier is more Indyesque than SPF. Think about it. Corey at 7 (or whatever), was way tougher than SPF at 18-19-20. SPF did more whining, wincing, and crying than Corey Carrier ever did at less than half the age.

You put your finger on the issue.

It was no wonder young Belloq stole young Indy's college work. He just wanted to make him cry again. Tried to repeat the game in Peru '36, but for some mysterious reason he failed!

I honestly don't remember much "wincing, crying or whining" on Indy's part in the YIJ. Yeah, he cried--when Molly, his fiancee, died in his arms. But I don't remember him whining. He was a Captain in WWI and a spy. The character became tough over the course of the series. Re-watch the series one day, it's a really good backstory for Indy.

Did anyone watch the series as it aired? / Did anyone watch them when they originally aired?

Hey, Raiders112390, you KNOW that some people here watched the show when it aired so why ask if "anyone" did?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raiders112390

Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma: That's the trick cyclist we passed on the way in. We thought he was an errant boy.
Indiana Jones: That's captain errant boy to you, second lieutenant. And unless you're dressed for a masquerade I fully expect to be saluted.

Way back in late December 1991, I remember seeing the first trailer for "YIJC" on network TV (U.S.), at the tail end of a broadcast of one of the IJ films. Based on this trailer, I was immediately pulled in and got very pumped about seeing the show. Since this was pre-Internet, all the news/info. I got was in the then-sporadic "Lucasfilm Insider" magazine, which was the pre-cursor to the current "SW Insider". Since there wasn't a lot of new SW news to report at that time, Lucasfilm would devote a lot of space in the mag. to the YIJC.

Flash-forward to Spring 1992 - "Curse of the Jackal" was broadcast on TV, and I was blown away. Though this wasn't the IJ that I was used to, I liked the unusual approach that Lucas took, and enjoyed seeing early 20th century history through YIJ's eyes. It was also obvious that the show had a large budget, since everything seemed to be filmed on location in many foreign countries, something that is almost unheard of for a network T.V. show.

I remember this was one of the few shows I watched where all of the episodes were excellent. I remember especially enjoying the WW I episodes. In fact, I was in college at this time, and the excellent WW I episode where Indy met Siegfried Sassoon and other British soldiers inspired me to write an English paper on World War I soldier poets.

I also enjoyed the very young Indy episodes, especially "British East Africa 1909", where little Indy met T. Roosevelt.

Anyway, I continued watching the show religiously throughout 1992 and 1993, and was frustrated at the constant cancellations and/or time/day changes that it was subjected to. It was especially disappointing since YIJC was definitely better than a lot of other network TV shows, yet it never really found an audience while on TV.

In 1994/1995, since I didn't have cable, I had a friend tape the Family channel broadcasts of "Peacock's Eye", "Attack of the Hawkmen", "Travels with Father", and "Hollywood Follies". Though these were great, I was dissapointed that these tele-films were the end of the series.

In the late 1990's/early 2000's, I became aware of the VHS tapes of some of the tele-films, and saw a couple of them. However, when I found out that they would not release the whole series on VHS, I lost interest and didn't watch any more.

Flash-forward to Summer 2007 - it was announced that the entire series would be released on DVD, starting in Fall 2007. Excellent news, especially since I had thought the show would never be released on disc (I credit the release of the new IJ film this May as being the primary reason the YIJC was released on DVD).

When I first saw the DVD's, it brought back memories of seeing the shows for the first time. Especially cool was that some of these episodes were never broadcast in the U.S. (i.e. the Franz Kafka episode, etc.), so I was seeing them for the first time.

I remember especially enjoying the WW I episodes. In fact, I was in college at this time, and the excellent WW I episode where Indy met Siegfried Sassoon and other British soldiers inspired me to write an English paper on World War I soldier poets.

Ha! In tenth grade I had to do a historical personality project where you research a famous person's life then come to school dressed as them to do a presentation. Because of my love for the Ned character on Young Indy, I chose T. E. Lawrence. Went over pretty well, but my creepy English teacher got a little too fixated on the sexual assault Lawrence underwent in captivity... But I answered everything in first person like a boss.

Too bad Raiders112390 didn't remember that previous thread. It would have saved some of us re-posting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demitasse

Ha! In tenth grade I had to do a historical personality project where you research a famous person's life then come to school dressed as them to do a presentation. Because of my love for the Ned character on Young Indy, I chose T. E. Lawrence.

That's cool and a good way for introducing high school students to historical celebrities.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demitasse

Went over pretty well, but my creepy English teacher got a little too fixated on the sexual assault Lawrence underwent in captivity... But I answered everything in first person like a boss.